VUFKU (All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration) existed for less than nine years (1922-1930), but it managed to release over 140 fiction films, several hundreds of non-fiction films and newsreels, dozens of animations, gain fame of “Ukrainian Hollywood,” and take under its control all aspects of the cinematic process – filmmaking, distribution, film press, propaganda, and education. From over 140 full-length fiction films made by VUFKU, about 60 films are considered lost. A lot of the surviving films have come down to us incomplete (without one or more parts).

The website VUFKU. Lost&Found is the first online collection of Dovzhenko-Centre’s media library and is perhaps the only online resource providing comprehensive information on VUFKU.

The mission of the VUFKU. Lost&Found project is to search and return to Ukraine the lost films of the 1920s. Traces of some of the lost films of that time can be found in international archives. Meanwhile, we are collecting archive materials about the lost films, restoring their contents, learning the context of their release.

These searches and analysis, restoration of films and their return to the cultural circulation require financial support. Donating to our fundraising campaign, which will start in October 2019, you will be able to contribute to the restoration of Ukrainian cinema.

Serhii Minin

(1901-1937)

Serhii (Sergey) Artemievych Minin was a Russian film actor who played in a number of films produced by Odesa Film Studio VUFKU in 1926-1927 and 1930-1934. He was born in Vladivostok. In 1923-1925, he studied at the film and acting studio of one of the pioneers of the Russian filmmaking, a film theorist and director Boris Tchaikovsky. In 1926-1927, he lectured in the studio. He performed in operetta, cabaret, and circus (as a wrestler).

Due to his spectacular appearance and strong physique, he mostly played revolutionaries, justice fighters, adventurers and travellers.

Before being employed at Odesa Film Studio, where he was apparently invited by the VUFKU administration, he played in three Russian films. His first work in Ukraine was Benia Kryk (1926) by Volodymyr Vilner, written by Isaac Babel. He also starred in Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s The Diplomatic Pouch(1927) and Heorhii Stabovyi’sTwo Days (1927), where he played Andrii, the son of the old doorkeeper Anton.

After leaving Ukraine, he appeared in films by Abram Room and Ilya Trauberg.